A/N: I was originally planning to take my time before I started posting this fic to iron out all the plot details and prewrite some chapters, but I couldn't let Sou's first birthday pass without celebrating it somehow. So, happy birthday, Sou! Here's a sneak peek at my take on traitor!Sou, and here's to hoping that his canon arc will be at least half as interesting as this 🙏
"Have a seat," the League staff member said. "We'll call you when it's time for the match to begin."
Hop took a seat on the indicated bench as the staff member left the locker room, but he couldn't stay seated for long. He bounced on his feet, shook out his hands, and slapped his cheeks. We can do this. We got this. Nothing to be nervous about.
It was only the final match of the Semifinals. Only the second of five battles that laid between him and Lee. Only the first time that he'd ever had a full battle against Schildemilia – no, she'd told him to call her Schilly, hadn't she?
So, it was a high-stakes match. But it was going to be fine. Hop was with his trusted partners. They'd already beaten one of the challengers that Lee endorsed. They could defeat the other one, too. They had to. Hop's lifelong dream was finally within reach. He couldn't trip up now.
"Hop." The quiet voice startled Hop out of his thoughts.
He glanced to the side; he'd been secretly hoping that Lee or someone would drop by to give him a little bit of encouragement before the match. But he wasn't expecting Sou of all people to be standing there, his expression calm as usual.
"Hey, mate," Hop said with a grin. "Come to give your old rival some moral support, eh? No hard feelings, you know – you fought well."
"So did you," Sou said. "You're quite a talented Trainer."
"Aw, you really think so?" Hop rubbed the back of his neck, feeling his cheeks heat up. "I couldn't have done it without my team. I hope we'll be enough to beat Schildemilia."
"You might," Sou said, nodding slowly. "But Schilly deserves to win."
Hop chuckled nervously. "That's real encouraging, mate."
"I'm not trying to be," Sou said, stepping closer to Hop.
A chill ran down Hop's spine.
It happened faster than Hop could process. One moment Sou was standing in front of him. The next, Sou was pinning one of his arms to his side, twisting the other arm behind his back, and holding a blade to his throat.
It took him a moment to realize the blade wasn't being held by anyone.
"Schilly needs to win," Sou whispered in his ear. "I can't allow you to beat her. So relax and let Swordyn take over from here. It's as easy as falling asleep."
Hop opened his mouth to scream for help, but Sou clapped a hand over his mouth. Swordyn's blade pressed harder into his throat. "Please don't fight it, Hop," Sou murmured. "No one needs to get hurt."
He struggled in Sou's grip, but there was nowhere he could move without the blade slicing his skin. Something cold and soft began wrapping itself around his left arm. It started at the wrist, slowly making its way up to the elbow, sending goosebumps up the arm. He looked to the side to see what it was.
That was his biggest mistake.
As soon as he made eye contact with Swordyn, Hop was unable to look away. Its eye was glowing with a faint purple light. It was mesmerizing. It was such a pretty shade of purple, like – like someone's hair. He couldn't remember whose. It wasn't important. The light was. It flashed. Bright. Darkness.
Nothing.
"And now," Sou murmured, "you're completely under my control."
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is it! The final match of the Semifinals! Who will emerge victorious and earn the right to advance to the Finals?"
The crowd cheered. Schilly took a deep breath, bouncing on the balls of her feet. She was a little nervous, but that didn't stop a grin from spreading across her face.
"Let's meet our challengers! First up: you know her as the girl who tugged Galar's heartstrings as she searched for her missing Pokémon. On top of that, she was endorsed by the Champion himself – let's hear it for Challenger Schildemilia!"
Schilly bounded out of the tunnel and onto the pitch to a mighty roar. She grinned widely and waved to the crowd as she made her way to her side of the battlefield.
"And on the other side of the pitch…he's lively, he's determined, he's always at it with a smile. As the younger brother of our unbeatable Champion, battling clearly runs in the family – give a warm welcome to Challenger Hop!"
The crowd went wild as Hop strolled out onto the pitch. He didn't smile or wave at the crowd, just walked mechanically to his side of the battlefield and turned around to face Schilly. She waved at him, grinning even brighter to make up for the lack of one on his face.
"You sure are taking this seriously, huh, Hop?" Schilly yelled. "Well, I'm taking it seriously, too! I've studied your battle style in and out, and my team's been training hard every day! There's no way we're gonna lose!" She grinned again and held out her first Poké Ball. "So bring it on!"
Hop said something in response, but she couldn't hear it over the cheering of the crowd. He was reaching for his first Poké Ball, now, so she shrugged off her curiosity and sent out her own first Pokémon.
"And the battle begins with Stunfisk versus Pincurchin! Looks like Challenger Schildemilia is starting off with a big type advantage! How will Challenger Hop respond!?"
Pincurchin? But Hop was supposed to start with Dubwool. He always started with Dubwool. It wasn't that big of a deal in the end – Schilly still had the advantage – but it wasn't what she was expecting. Was this his strategy? Knowing that she would've studied his strategies inside and out, he was switching things up so she wouldn't be able to predict what he'd do next?
Well, that wasn't going to slow her down for long. She could be flexible! "Mega! Use Mud Shot!"
Pincurchin went down quickly, and Hop sent in Cramorant next. Mega was no match for its super-effective Water-type moves. Then Tera came in and took out Cramorant with ease. The rest of the match followed the same rhythm – Schilly and Hop alternating victories, each Pokémon winning only to be taken out by its next opponent. But Schilly had the advantage of having knocked out Hop's Pokémon first, and in the end…
"Max Hailstorm!"
Ice rained down on Dubwool's head. It collapsed, shrinking back to normal size.
"And Dubwool goes down! Eiscue is the winner! Which means…it's official, folks! The challenger advancing to the Finals is none other than Challenger Schildemilia!"
The crowd cheered. Schilly's cheer was even louder. "YES!" she shrieked, jumping up and down. As Peta returned to normal size, she turned around to face it, grabbed its fins, and began to jump with it. "We did it, Peta! We did it! We won!" Joy bubbled up in her chest, and she threw her head back and laughed it into the air. She'd beaten Hop. She'd won the Semifinals. She'd taken one step closer to becoming the Champion.
When she finally turned back towards Hop, there was an exuberant smile stuck on her face. It didn't even falter when she saw that Hop was leaving the pitch without having said a word to her. "Hop! Wait up!" she called, dashing over to him.
He turned to look at her, and she was immediately struck by how dull and empty his normally bright, beautiful golden eyes looked. She felt a twinge of guilt in her gut; in her excitement over her victory, she'd forgotten that becoming Champion was Hop's dream long before it was hers. She didn't regret winning, but she didn't like seeing Hop look so down, either.
"Hey! You did great out there, Hop!" she exclaimed. "Your Pokémon were super tough! The match could've easily gone either way – if I hadn't gotten lucky enough to have a type advantage in that first matchup, I might not have won at all!"
"Thank you," Hop mumbled. "You were better, though. You deserved to win."
"Aw, don't be so hard on yourself!" Schilly said, slapping him on the back. "We both put in a ton of effort preparing for this – we both deserved to win! It's the nature of the battle that there can only be one winner, but if there was a way that we could both win, you bet I'd take it!"
Hop shrugged indifferently; Schilly's smile faltered. She was used to Hop being able to match her enthusiasm stride for stride, with his energy buoying hers up even further. Seeing him so apathetic was almost unnerving. She didn't know how to cheer him up besides hoping her optimism would rub off on him; maybe one of their friends would have a better idea.
"Come on!" she exclaimed, grabbing Hop's hand. "Everyone's gotta be waiting for us by now! Let's go find them!"
Hop yelped in surprise as Schilly yanked him forward, sprinting off the pitch. They nearly ran into an Aegislash hanging near the entrance of the tunnel to the locker room. "Sorry!" Schilly called over her shoulder to the Pokémon, reluctant to slow down when she'd already gained so much momentum.
When they reached the locker room, a member of the League staff was just entering the elevator. "Hold the door!" Schilly shouted. The staff member jumped and turned around, and the elevator doors started to close behind her. Schilly and Hop weaved across the room and darted into the elevator just in time. Unfortunately, they didn't have any time to slow down, so Schilly crashed into the far wall and Hop crashed into her and they fell to the floor in a tangled heap.
Schilly giggled. "Made it!"
Hop just groaned.
By the time the staff member had helped Schilly and Hop up and congratulated Schilly on her victory, the elevator had reached the stadium lobby. The doors opened with a soft ding. Waiting for them on the other side wasn't Sou, or Marvin, or Professor Magnolia, but–
"Mr. Leon!" Schilly exclaimed, bounding out of the elevator with Hop on her heels.
Leon grinned broadly and struck his famous Charizard pose, earning a round of applause from the surrounding spectators. He held the pose until the applause had died down. Then, he finally addressed Schilly and Hop. "Congratulations, you two! That was brilliant! I was…" He trailed off, his brow furrowing. "Hop? Are you okay?"
Schilly glanced at Hop; he didn't look any different than he had coming off the pitch. He blinked slowly. "I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" Leon asked, putting his hands on Hop's shoulders and starting to examine him more closely. "Because you don't look–"
"I'm fine, Leon, stop it," Hop said, swatting Leon's hands away and taking a step backwards. The hint of annoyance in his tone was more emotion than Schilly had heard from him at all since the battle – she should've known that if anyone could get Hop out of his funk, it'd be his brother.
"Psst," she whispered, tugging on the edge of Leon's cape to get him to lean towards her. He didn't seem inclined to get much closer, though – was her whispering really that loud? "I think he's still pretty bummed about losing. Do you have any idea how to cheer him up?"
Leon winked at her. "I've got just the thing."
He looped his arms over Schilly and Hop's shoulders, glancing between the two with a big smile. "A battle as intense as that demands a celebratory dinner, don't you think? Let's go get something to eat – my treat!"
"That sounds awesome!" Schilly beamed.
"No thanks," Hop said.
Leon whipped his head to the side so fast that his hair nearly hit Schilly in the face. "No? Are you sick? Do I need to take you to a doctor?"
"N-no, I–" Hop started to squirm out of Leon's grasp, only to freeze for a moment and then rest his head on Leon's shoulder. "I'm tired, Lee," he whispered, voice cracking.
Leon let go of Schilly and pulled Hop closer, rubbing a hand in circles on his little brother's back. "Oh, Hop," he soothed.
Schilly turned away to give them some privacy and yelped. "S-Sou! How long have you been standing there!?"
"I've been here," he said calmly. He was only a few feet behind Hop and Leon. Swordyn, the most recent addition to his team, hovered next to him. "I was just thinking, if Hop's tired, I could walk with him back to the Rose so he can get some rest."
"Thanks for the offer, Sou," Leon said, letting go of Hop but keeping a hand on his shoulder, "but I can walk him back myself! Besides, he ought to get changed first. You too, Schilly."
"Huh?" Schilly looked down at herself. She was still wearing her challenge uniform…which challengers were supposed to change out of before they left the locker room. "Oops! It totally slipped my mind!" she laughed.
"I'm tired," Hop said monotonously. "I wanna go back to the hotel and sleep."
"I can take you there," Sou volunteered. "Your brother will get your clothes from the locker room and bring them to your hotel room later, okay?"
"Okay," Hop echoed.
Leon rubbed the back of his head. "Well, if you insist…"
Sou led Hop towards the exit of the stadium, Swordyn trailing behind them. Schilly energetically waved them off. Hop glanced over his shoulder at Schilly and Leon before he disappeared into the crowd, a hint of some unhappy emotion on his face. He was gone before Schilly could identify exactly what emotion it was.
She didn't dwell on it; it was probably just the exhaustion kicking in. She headed over to the elevator to the locker room and called out Leon when she realized he was lagging behind. He jogged to catch up to her. Once inside, he leaned against one wall of the elevator and stared intensely at a spot on the opposite wall. Schilly looked at the spot, too, but she didn't notice anything unusual about it.
"Whatcha thinking about?" Schilly asked, looking back at Leon.
"Hop," he replied immediately.
Schilly chortled. "You worry too much! He'll be fine!"
The elevator doors dinged open. "I don't know," Leon said. "Seeing that battle he had with you…"
"He did awesome! We only barely managed to win!"
Leon tilted his head. "You think so?"
"Yeah!" She blinked. "Do you not?"
He shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I should just talk to him. I'll stop by his room after dinner tonight." He nudged Schilly playfully. "Don't let me forget."
"Got it! I'll remind you!" Schilly exclaimed, following him out of the elevator. "Speaking of which…where are we eating?"
Leon scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Well, there's a really good takeout place on the north side…"
A/N: the Rose = the Rose of the Rondelands hotel, if that wasn't clear.